Mainland China is Facing Continual Droughts, Giving Prominence to the Issue of Shortages in Water Reserves

(Clearwisdom.net) News from Beijing by the Central News Agency: People's Daily, the Chinese Government mouthpiece, reported on April 4, 2002, that currently water reserve shortages has become an extremely serious issue in Mainland China. It has already become an important factor that hinders China's sustainable social and economic developments.

It was reported that in the last three years, Mainland China has been suffering continual droughts, especially last year when the situation grew worse, with reduced natural water flow into rivers and lakes; water storage in reservoirs was reduced by 11% as compared with the year before. Over 300,000,000 mu [50,000,000 acres] of farmland were affected, and as many as 33 million people encountered temporary shortages of drinking water. Some areas experienced the worst water shortage situations since the Party took over state power in 1949.

According to Mr. Wu Jisong, the Head of the Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Water Conservancy, inadequate water reserves is a general situation across China. In China, the average water reserve per capita is 2,200 cubic meters [about 77,586 cubic feet]. This rate leaves China far behind in water reserves with only 25% of the world's per capita average.

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